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Magic
Magic Sources Magic comes from several sources. The "field strength" of the sources can vary depending on where you are and what the source is. Arcane Arcane magic is a result of the Sun of a world. It usually varies from 3-18, lesser or greater strengths are rare. The bodies of arcane users are affected by the magic passing through them. In field strengths over 14 it is noted that dead magician will get up and walk around if their bodies are not properly anchored with ritual. Even with this the bodies of magicians enter a natural state of preservation due to the magic often remaining uncorrupted for centuries. Divine The direct result of the attention of Primal beings. They control how much you can get and under what conditions. If and what affects the use of this magic has on the user again depend on the nature and will of the Primal beings supplying the power. Long time users will be marked by the sanctification effect. The flavor of which depends on the Primal being that supplies it. Likewise postmortem effects depend on the nature of the primal being, anything from physical transcendence to starting to rot before you die. Earth This is the magic of the world itself. It is affected by the general health of the biosphere. It is noted as a difficult and subtle road to power. Those that master it are few. Earth magicians are affected by long lives and seeming eternal youth. Male or female they are very fertile, unless they choose otherwise. Unlike the arcane magician their bodies molder quickly when they do die, returning to the Earth. Life/Death Often thought of as different sources they are actually one and the same. This is the classic source of "The Force". Life magic is powerful and difficult to master. Death magic is less powerful, but much easier to get a handle on. Unlike other forms of magic "Force" is constant throughout a given Galaxy. Both will affect the user. Life or light side extends life and will heal even gross injuries without scarring. Well practiced users can expect three to four times their normal lifespan in good health. Those using the death or the dark side age quickly although they might not die any quicker. The dark side will not heal. At death the light side results in postmortem transcendence. Use of the dark side means simply being dead. It has been noted that light side uses have a certain persistence. Dark side users can become powerful undead creatures of destruction. A certian class of Greyhawken death magicians called Necromancers tied their power to sacrifice and never producing life themselves. They would mutilate their own reproductive organs to prevent them ever siring or bearing a child. If that happened they lose all ability to wield magic. Magician Types Not all magicians are educated equally. Depending on level of interest and education they fall into four rough types. This is not a matter of how much raw intelligence they have. Every magician is a genius. You need to be one just to practice it. It is a level of interest and education. There are geniuses with zero education living as couch potatoes. *'Type A:' These are the heavy hitters that delve onto magic theory, they must know why magic works as it does and how then can manipulate that. In analogy, software and hardware architects. They make the machine work. *'Type B:' Magicians that do original work in creating spells and new magic items. They know how magic works and can use that to their, and others advantage. Programmers and administrators of the computer world. *'Type C:' The "book magician" They know it works and can manipulate what others have made to good result. They are no less a spell caster, but do not delve into the workings. the majority of magicians fall into this category. The computer user. As long as the word processor spell gets their document out. *'Type D:' The blood magician, sorcerers and warlocks. They do not study magic at all. It just comes to them. They likely have no idea how anything they do works, they just do it. There is a clerical equivalent, the "favored soul", these are the majority of those in the Enlightenment Movement. The Craft equivalent is the "Earth Mother/Father". Console gamers, stick in the disk play game. Magic Level This is the Thoth/Isis magic level system. It comes out of Pharaonic magic and interestingly enough the same scale called the same thing is used on Greyhawke. The chart lists how difficult a given magic level is to cast. It is assuming the standard of 10 levels of possible spells from 0 to 9. The chart has a number of assumptions. Too little magic and too much magic are bad things. -1 magic makes life impossible. +30 magic makes ordered life nearly impossible. There is no hard cut off for spells, say 4th level and no higher. A given spell level becomes more difficult requiring a higher level spell slot to cast. Once a given level is four slots higher it cannot be cast above that point. As magic gets easier it is simpler to cast requiring less training and will to do so to the point that magical wild effects just happen. Magic has locality. Arcane magic is determined by the Sun of a world, Earth magic by the planet and degree of life. Clerical magic by the gods if any. These three numbers can vary wildly depending on the world. When writing the AD&D books the guys at TSR could have invested in a Thesaurus. See Also: Tech Levels The Thoth/Isis Scale Magic Level Spell level slot to cast 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Notes -1 Life not possible 0 Magic not possible 1 4 x x x x x x x x x 2 4 5 x x x x x x x x 3 3 5 6 x x x x x x x Epiphany Trek 4 3 4 6 7 x x x x x x 5 2 4 5 7 8 x x x x x 6 2 3 5 6 8 9 x x x x 7 1 3 4 6 7 9 10 x x x 8 1 2 4 5 7 8 10 11 x x 9 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 11 12 x 10 0 1 3 4 6 7 9 10 12 13 11 0 1 2 4 5 7 8 10 11 13 12 0 1 2 3 5 6 8 9 11 12 13 0 1 2 3 4 6 7 9 10 12 14 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 10 11 15 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 11 VC-Earth 16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 Easy hybrids 17 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 18 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Greyhawke 19 ! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 ! 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 21 !! 0 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 22 !! ! 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 23 !!! ! 0 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 24 !!! !! 0 1 3 4 6 7 8 9 25 !!!! !! ! 1 2 4 5 7 8 9 Spontaneous Mutations 26 !!!! !!! ! 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 27 ∞ !!! !! 0 1 3 4 6 7 9 Wild Events of the level 28 ∞ !!!! !! ! 1 2 4 5 7 8 29 ∞ !!!! !!! ! 0 2 3 5 6 8 30 ∞ ∞ !!! !! 0 1 3 4 6 7 Chaos Events x -- Spell cannot be cast. ! -- Spell can be cast by untrained persons. !! -- Spell can be cast at will by anyone. !!! -- Spell can be cast with casual thoughts. !!!! -- Spontaneous events. ∞ -- Wild events. Category:Lexicon Category:Supernatural Category:Background Category:CA Category:Intangibles Category:Magician